Hello everyone. I am not really new to fishkeeping as I had a 55g goldfish tank for 12 years but I have never successfully kept a plant alive. But anyway I decided to start a 10g tank, just because. This is what I have so far.

sorry for the bad picture, I forgot how to use my camera.

so this is the Marineland 10g LED kit with Penguin 100b filter. i added a hydro thea? 50watt heater.

the substrate is eco-complete and white sandthat i thought would look neat on one side but i failed and mixed them together more than I wanted.

I am planning on getting java fern, and java moss. Are there any other plants good for beginners with low-moderate light requirements?

I also need fertilizer ideas. I don't think I'm going to do C02 at this time. From my research it seems I need Flourish Excel and Flourish Comprehensive?

i have no fauna in there but I am planning on getting Celestial Pearl Danios but I don't know what else. I really like Chili Rasboras but I've read that they are harder to care for and need a well-established tank. Does anyone have any other suggestions for fish? I need things that are beginner friendly. I also want a Zebra Nerite Snail because they are lovely.

If you have any other suggestions or if I am doing something wrong please let me know!

Welcome to the forum. There's nothing wrong with being a newbie! Being new is part of the fun of this hobby. Seems like you're embracing it and that's a good thing. It'll make it easier for you to learn as you go along.

One thing you'll want to do right away is make sure you are not burying the rhizome of your Anubias. Sticking the roots into the substrate is fine but the rhizome should be above it.

Just about any sort of Crypt you can think of would work for your tank. Crypt parva is a nice, small plant that would look almost like a carpet if planted thick enough.

The plants you have will do really well with root tabs so that may be something to consider. Much easier than dosing ferts. Always good to have something like Flourish on-hand, though, in case you need it.

Thanks for the replies! I've ordered Flourish Root Tabs and also the three-pack of Flourish, Excel, and Iron to try them out. I also moved the anubias, just wedged it in between the driftwood and stone so it doesn't float.

Unwrap the anacharis and let each piece of it benefit from the light.
Anacharis doesn't tend to do well with Excel (as per Seachem's website). I'm not sure about half dose Excel though.

I'd say you're off to a good start. Good suggestion above re the fert tabs. Swords may get too big for that size tank. If this were a dirt tank I'd suggest taking out the swords (large root system so if you ever had to move it it would create a big mess) but I think you're ok to leave it for now. Hopefully it'll do well.

If you are thinking of moss, I might be inclined to stick to the CPDs and add a few shrimp. The shrimp might be able to be self sustaining if the young have a place to hide. I'm a big fan of cory cats but I've read they should be kept in groups.

I did unwrap the anacharis, and it looks much better now, just drifting around.

There isn't really any organization to my design, I had something in mind but was only able to go to petsmart/petco this weekend and they didn't have anything I wanted, so I just got what I thought looked okay and messed with it until I was satisfied.. I did order a piece of mopani driftwood to hopefully add some height to the middle piece though. I definitely want to get some crypt wendtii now along with the java moss and java fern. I am hoping to create a nice moss carpet on the left side of the tank so that it goes from green moss to the hill of black substrate to the white sand.

Would it be way too much to put 10 corydoras hasbrosus in with 5 or 6 CPD? Otherwise I will get CPD and RCS which will add a nice red contrast similar to chili rasbora but harder to kill.

I also just ordered an Aquaclear 50 to replace the Penguin. After messing with the penguin filter for two hours last night and having flashbacks to the horrors of trying to keep goldfish water clean with my olllld Penguin mess I decided I would rather have an Aquaclear.

I got my flourish root tabs today and stuck them in. so far my moneywort is not doing well, most of the leaves are melting BUT there are bigger leaves growing on some of them so I am giving it time. but the anubias is absolutely beautiful as is the wisteria! the anacharis is alright, I am not in love with it. I planted it all by the back of the tank but it doesn't go with the other plants. I also at the risk of melting the anacharis started doing 1ml doses of excel everyday. so far its no big deal, but its only been two days. I also got a piece of mopani driftwood that is nice and tall and it looks pretty good! It is a vibrant kind of blood red, will that fade over time though?
Next I will be getting pennywort, java fern, java moss, and the small crypt wendtii. I want to have the entire tank mostly green!

My Aquaclear 70 is also much better than the Penguin. it is on the lowest flow setting so the substrate doesnt fly all over the place and I can't hear it at all. My Hydor THEO heater is acting funny though, it doesn't seem to keep the temp. consistant...this morning it was set to 75 and the water was 80 degrees =/

Still can't decide what fish I want. I saw some of the blue Dwarf Gouramis today though and they were so beautiful! They were all in a tank together though, I thought they were aggressive toward each other?

Edit: I guess thats not the only life I have! I just saw a baby snail hanging by the heater. I think its a pond snail...dark brown with black spots and its shell is rounded but with a pointed tip at the end. Kinda cute!

Last edited by Wayne Dwops; 12-08-2012 at 05:48 AM.
Reason: added more info

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